Phase Two of County Border-to-Border Trail Underway Connecting Hudson Mills to Dexter

Plans to construct a 3-mile non-motorized trail from Hudson Mills Metropark to the village of Dexter will begin in February.

The project is part of a sprawling multi-county effort to develop a 35-mile non-motorized trail connecting Livingston, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties along the Huron River.

The Hudson Mills segment of the trail will be constructed on Huron-Clinton Metroparks property and is being overseen by the metroparks directly.

Upon completion, the project will connect to the West Side Connector boardwalk that was recently completed in 2012 and will allow pedestrians and bicyclists to safely travel from the village of Dexter to Hudson Mills Metropark and vice versa.

E.T. MacKenzie Company, the contractor for the project, said the project will begin in February with the clearing of trees along the alignment of the proposed pathway.

Village President Shawn Keough said residents in the village's Westridge Subdivision and Cedars of Dexter development, along with residents in nearby Dexter Township and Webster Township, will likely hear the sounds of machines working during the daylight hours as tree clearing begins.

The contractor’s normal winter working hours will start at 7:30 a.m.

"Following the clearing of trees and removal of roots, the contractor will be installing the necessary timber piling to support the new boardwalk portions of the pathway," the village wrote on its Facebook page. "The timber pile installation will also be an operation that will involve machinery, which will likely be heard by nearby residents during the day."

Keough said E.T. MacKenzie Company will be working on the portions of the pathway closest to the village from early February through early April.

All of the dates are approximate at this time, pending the official award of the contract by the state.

The contractor’s progress will depend on many factors including weather and material availability.

"We will do our best to keep residents informed of the progress of the project, but wanted to provide as much notice as possible about this much anticipated project," the village wrote in a notice to residents.

For questions about the Border-to-Border project, contact Mike Arens at the Huron Clinton Metroparks at 1-800-477-2757, or email mike.arens@metroparks.com.